Verizon Communications Inc. recorded a 21 percent profit drop in the second quarter and also plans on slashing more than 8,000 positions – 3 percent of its work force – in the second half of 2009, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Verizon attributed its net income fall to $1.48 billion, or 52 cents a share, to a 6.7 percent decline in its global enterprise business, which provides fixed line service for corporate and government clients. Contributing in that decline was a draining pool of potential fixed-line users due to a higher than anticipated reduction of nearly 500,000 jobs during June in the United States.

One year ago, second-quarter net income was $1.88 billion, or 66 cents a share.

Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Craig Moffett expects Verizon’s shares to lag behind the rest of the market, and feels the drop “suggests that we’re nowhere near out of the woods in this recession.”

Sales, however, boosted by Verizon’s purchase of Alltel Corp., rose 11 percent to $26.9 billion.